Flynn starts chuckling. “I told you so. Why did you think I asked you to look closer?”

His words slam into my like an icy glacier and I try to pull back, but his hands hold my hips tight. I start fumbling around for words. “I thought... I mean, you said you had a cut, but then I couldn’t see one... and then you pulled me closer... so I thought...”

I feel Flynn’s fingertips dig into my flesh and he pulls me in a fraction closer. My hands go back to his shoulders and his muscles jump when our skin makes contact.

“How about you just kiss it and see if you can make it better?”

My confused brain is trying to catch up. I thought he was attracted to me, and then I thought he wasn’t... now it appears he is. I’m not even sure I know which way is up right now.

“You want me to kiss you?”

“Well... how else will I know how bad the cut is until I try to use my lips?” His voice is so serious, his eyes reflecting the same, but the slight curve to his mouth tells me he’s enjoying this banter.

With Flynn sitting on the bed, my face is at the same level as his. Our bodies are perfectly aligned for me to kiss him soundly. I could just lean forward, ever so slightly, and my lips would touch his. I can tell that is exactly what he expects me to do.

I take one step in further until the outside of my thighs graze the inside of his and our chests touch. The closeness demands I wrap my arms fully around his neck and I do so. I hold my head back just a touch, so our lips are the last thing that will touch.

We stare at each other, silently. Our faces are so close, my eyes glaze over a bit trying to look into his.

“I’m going to kiss you now,” I whisper.

His arms wrap around me, squeezing me closer.

“Okay,” he whispers back.

I don’t waste any time before I press my mouth against his. We mutually open up to each other and I tilt my head sideways. Our mouths move against each other, tasting... testing boundaries.

One of Flynn’s hands moves from around my back to hold the back of my head, pushing me in tighter to him. His tongue slips into my mouth at the same time and at the first contact with mine, both of groan loudly.

The kiss turns more fevered and I’m riddled with the need to touch more of him. As if sensing the urge within me, Flynn’s hands drop and grip under my ass. In one smooth move, he scoots his butt further back on the bed and hauls me onto his lap. As my legs part to straddle him, my gaze travels down and I see the towel has opened completely. A moan of appreciation slips out when I see how hard he is.

“Fuck,” he hisses. “If you keep looking at me like that, I won’t be responsible for the way you walk tomorrow.”

His sinful words shoot lust through my body as I imagine Flynn fucking me so hard I can’t walk and my eyes slam back into his. The gaze only lasts a second before his mouth is back on mine and his hands are tangled in my hair.

I’m completely overwhelmed by the intimacy that swirls around us. Flynn’s mouth is almost inducing catatonia in me while his hands are causing mini-volcanic eruptions everywhere they touch.

Falling, falling, falling... fast.

I struggle to clear my head, and remember that we are friends.

Just friends.

I should pull back and stop this before we both do something stupid and ruin our friendship.

Yes...pull back. That’s what I should do.

I will.

In just a moment.

After we kiss for just a bit more.

12

I’m into the second day of my three-day shift and I stare at the loudspeaker on the wall, willing it to crackle and spit to life with a call. I’m jonesing for a call... even if it’s to get a fucking cat out of a tree.

Something.

Anything to get my mind off Rowan.

We had made out like two sex-starved teenagers the other day, both of us too hesitant to move past second base. I’m not sure why we didn’t go further, because there was nothing more that I wanted to do than strip Rowan naked, lay her out on the bed, and make her come hard. I wanted her to reach down between my legs, take my aching dick in her hands, and give me the same pleasure.

But none of those things happened. We kissed... deep, long, hot kissing. There was plenty of moaning, lots of tongue, but our hands still remained on good behavior and didn’t venture too far. I kept mine mostly on Rowan’s head, sometimes stroking down her back and, yes, once... I gripped her ass and reveled at the groan she rewarded me with.

Rowan ran her hands over my shoulders, down my arms... digging her fingers into my biceps. She touched my chest, laying her warm hands flat against my pecs, and lightly stroked my skin. It drove me crazy and I silently begged her to touch my nipples.

I have no clue how long we made out. It could have gone on another five hours and I would have been deliriously happy, despite the fact I would probably be sporting the biggest set of blue balls in the history of mankind. But at some point, Rowan pulled back, her hands resting on my cheeks. She looked at me... the deepest, softest look she had ever bestowed my way... and she said, “We should slow down.”

I groaned. I couldn’t help it. Guys are conditioned to involuntarily groan when a woman puts a screeching halt on our sex-capades. I flexed my fingers open and closed with frustration, wanting to just pull her back in and start kissing the fuck out of her.

But then, I realized it was Rowan sitting on my lap... a girl that I was apparently willing to lay my life down for on two occasions so far, and I knew that she was right. We should slow it down. Starting an intense relationship under the already bizarre circumstances that threw us together was probably not a good idea.

So I kissed her lightly, one more time, and I gently pushed her off my lap. Her face was flushed, her lips were swollen, and her chest was heaving. I still get a rush of satisfaction over that image. She merely gave me a small nod of her head—after sneaking a glance down at my erection—and walked out of my room. I got up, headed for the shower, and jumped back in so I could jerk off... again... to thoughts of Rowan.

After that, the rest of our night was uneventful. We ate dinner and played cards. I wanted to kiss her again but she put up a wall and maintained a slight level of aloofness that told me it wasn’t going to happen. She went to bed early and was still sleeping when I left for work the next morning.

My phone buzzes in my pocket, startling me from my thoughts. I pull it out and my heart leaps a bit when I see it’s from Rowan.

Met Food called. I didn’t get job. Back to the drawing board.

My heart now hurts for Rowan. She was so excited yesterday about having an interview at a grocery store just a few blocks from my apartment. She had texted me right after, telling me that she thought it went well and was hoping she got it.